Shrinking graduate premium sours views on value of a university education, UK poll shows

There was a time when going to university seemed a no-brainer. Better qualifications opened doors to better jobs with greater earning potential.But with the graduate premium shrinking, mounting anger about spiralling student debt and growing fears about AI eating into the graduate jobs market, it is not surprising that attitudes are shifting.Public confidence in the value of a university education has plummeted after decades of unfettered expansion across the sector.The latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey found the proportion of people who believe a degree is not worth the time and money has jumped from 14% in 2005 to 34% in 2025. Correspondingly, the proportion who believe those who go to university will end up a lot better off financially than those who do not has nosedived, down from 50% to 36%.Higher education in the UK has undergone a huge transformation since the first BSA survey in 1983. At that time, only a tiny proportion of school leavers – about 6% – went to university. By 2025, that had ballooned to 36%, and more than 2 million domestic students are enrolled.Survey views on university educationThis means more graduates are hunting for jobs. They are also paying more for their education. When tuition fees were introduced in 1998, they were set at £1,000 a year. Now, English students pay up to £9,535 a year, as well as living costs.Younger graduates, with experience of the fee system, are – understandably – more disillusioned than those who did not pay fees, according to the survey.Meanwhile, student loan repayment thresholds – the salary level above which graduates start paying back their loans – have been frozen many times, rather than uprated in line with inflation as promised. The thresholds will be frozen for three years from 2027 onwards.Growing disquiet about the above-inflation interest rates charged on these loans has also prompted questions about whether the burden on graduates is too great.“There’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a challenging labour market out there for everyone seeking work, not just graduates, which is a reflection of the current economy,” said Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK. “But the data consistently shows that those with a degree are more likely to have a job, earn more and have better health. And a university education doesn’t just benefit the individual. If we want our country to grow, we need more graduates entering the labour market.”Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, agrees. “While university still benefits most graduates most of the time, the lack of substantial economic growth means the rewards are not always as great as people hope beforehand,” he said. “However, despite years of negative rhetoric, it is still only one in three people who think university is not worth it.”Despite his growing loan debt, Alex Stanley, the vice-president for higher education at the National Union of Students, is glad he went to university. “I wouldn’t be in this role without it,” he said. “And it is the experiences I gained, beyond the piece of paper, that make it valuable.“But the funding system did not work for me. I had to do three jobs alongside my studies and my grades suffered as a result. And despite not being able to live on the loans I received, I still have over £50,000 of debt which is growing each month despite my repayments. The funding system is broken, and that is decaying trust in the university model.“We want a university system where young people can go, spend three years expanding their horizons, deepening their knowledge and challenging their thinking, and then leave with a qualification that sets them up for the workplace. But right now, that is not the case. This should serve as a wake-up call for universities and for the government.”Alex Scholes, a co-author of the BSA report, said universities were not just about education, but were also engines of social mobility and economic growth.He added: “They are also under immense financial pressure, and it appears recent debates about the fairness of student loan repayment systems and the role of AI on the job market have filtered through to people’s views about the value of a degree.“If public confidence continues to fall, we risk seeing the financial situation become even worse.”